Why some bugles won't behave- a pictorial tutorial

They say a picture is worth a thousand words...click on any pic below
to view it full size, and get all the details.

HELP! I can't stop!!

I do love making these- so fast, so many color/finish combos that can work, and everyone who has seen me wear one loves it!

Hope you like this latest; matte gold iris bugles (from Jane's Fibers, I think) with 4mm Czech jet AB firepolish, copper lined 11°, and gold iris 15°.

Glad to be back!

Helping to put on a bead retreat for 25+ women in one cabin for a week was both fun and a challenge! Lots of beautiful beadwork, sharing, caring and learning went on, and I think everyone went home with something beautiful to show for it.

But, I am happy to be home and finishing things I learned....there are still kumibeado ropes to be strung for the peyote bail pendants, a clasp change for the netted roundelle bracelet (gotta LOVE those Chinese roundelles!), and work some more on my beaded doll...but everything is unpacked, in its place, and I can actually find things without having to open every single box, bag or tin I brought!

The Beadsmith Bead Tower was a purchase from a friend who didn't care for how it worked, but it is perfect for my 'odds and ends' beads; drops, glass pearls, Chinese glass roundelles, rounds and bicone, daggers and lentils- things I will not remember to use if they are put away into a drawer, no matter how organized that seemed in the first place.

And I found an art spinner, the kind you keep your colored pencils, scissors, etc in, and is now my project bead holder, especially for bead embroidery, which seems to go better if all the beads I want to use on that project are available and in sight, yet not where the cats can knock them all down, or where my threads can catch on them. $2 at a yard sale...but worth it even if you paid full price!

Now I need to catch up on what you all have been doing- being without internet all week was tough!!

Happy beading!

Nope, Just Can't Leave Things Alone!

Oh yeah....no 12 step program, either...LOL!

There is a pattern called Try Triangles, a lovely bangle by Shelley Nybakke

http://www.beadandbutton.com/bnb/Objects/PDF/bnb-ons0509.pdf

Lots of discussion going on over at Beaddreamz yahoogroup about this pattern, and of course, having alot of those metal 8o beads from kandrasbeads.com in several colors, I had to make one in vintaj bronze. The base is two units of RAW wide, the sides are one unit each, with 4mm Czech firepolish at the top, and 8o hex beads, culled for size- the larger used at the top and thinner used at the base- between units on the sides, which made for a naturally curved piece. I didn't want a bangle, so used homemade jumprings of Parawire, and an S clasp of same, to close.

I love how it feels, and will be making more of these...those metal beads rock, and fit so nicely in RAW!

Oh, and used 10# smoke Fireline..

Happy Beading!

Pearly Heart Double-Sided Bliss

Bead and Button offered an online pattern by Susan Eisemann, called Two Hearts Forever. It is fast enough to work up, if you have the materials ( calls for 4mm glass pearls, 4mm bicones- but you can do it in two colors of pearls, 11o seed beads) and if you are fairly proficient in RAW, that you can make it up for Mother's Day!

I absolutely did not want to make two RAW bases, as the pattern called for, because the one a friend made, that I was able to fondle, felt bulky and sort of pooched out in the middle. So, I wanted to see if I could make one base, then embellish both sides.

YES! It can be done. I used Miyuki 11o beads, and culled as I went, to be sure that the holes were not small, as they were going to have to take multiple thread passes. I should have used 4# Fireline, but only had the 6# with me. It worked out fine, doncha think?
Instead of the beaded bail, I am going to attach sterling jumprings or the like to the top, so that a sterling chain can go through it.

Happy Beading! And Happy Mother's Day!

Jaycee's Silvermoon pattern..

I admit it...I can't leave patterns alone! So, beat me, will ya? But with pearls, or something soft like that...

Her original is a lovely pattern, fast and easy, and she offered it free at her site if you email her.. http://jayceepatterns.blogspot.com/

I did mine in copper metal beads, because I LIKE copper. In all its colors; bright, tarnished, liver-of-sulphured...but after doing hers, I had to see what would happen if I ignored Jaycee's advice and pulled my thread nice and tight ( like I usually bead), then kept adding beads in the center!

Voila! a bumpy version.

Hope you are not too offended, Jaycee...I just CAN'T help myself....and there is no 12 step program, I checked!! LOL!

Happy Beading, everyone!

Grrrrr!

I hate it when I am right.

It is so not fun to spend hours creating something, and then have it fall apart.

Especially when it is a gift, and doubly so when it is to my Beloved!

Don't believe them when they say Nymo D on the large spool will hold.

It will fray over time.

DH was given, and followed, instructions as to how to be gentle with the 4 bead tubular herringbone rope on this bolo.

You can see in the one photo that it is a soft leather backing, that I stitched in place just snug enough to barely hold the rope in place.

The nymo stretched, and finally gave out, despite pre-stretching.

I would rather pay the extra, and use Fireline!

I hope it can be redone before his Spring concert this Thurs...grrrrrr!

Pooh on you, Nymo!

That Old Spiral

I have never had much luck with the plain spiral- the one where you add the next bead and the beads that spiral around, then continue as long as you need? Mine were always floppy, and wouldn't keep a spiral shape, despite me shoving the spiral beads to the same direction each time. Funnier still, is that my usual overly tight tension was not used when I attempted this previously.

This time, I kept the newly added spiral beads in place tightly with my fingers, as well as keeping thread tension nice and tight.

It is holding nice and tight, for once!!